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Floyd Mayweather has played a more active role in helping Gervonta Davis prepare for his debut as a pay-per-view headliner than he had embraced before Davis’ previous fights.
The retired legend isn’t sure, however, whether he’ll actually work Davis’ corner the night the two-division champion meets Leo Santa Cruz. Mayweather plans to discuss that possibility with Calvin Ford, Davis’ head trainer.
Davis’ famous promoter sat ringside, near Davis’ corner, and continuously shouted instructions to the powerful southpaw throughout his most recent fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa. Baltimore’s Davis dropped Gamboa three times and stopped him in the 12th round to win the WBA world lightweight title December 28 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
The 25-year-old Davis has trained exclusively at Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas for his showdown with Santa Cruz. Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) and Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) will fight for Santa Cruz’s WBA “super” 130-pound championship and Davis’ WBA world 135-pound crown October 31 at Alamodome in San Antonio.
“I haven’t spoke to Calvin yet,” Mayweather said as part of a recent virtual press conference in reference to working Davis’ corner. “But in the gym, me and Calvin works hand [in] hand. But those that don’t know who Calvin is, that’s Tank’s trainer. And me and Calvin, we speak, we work together in the gym. You know, sometimes I have to leave and fly away to take care of business. But when I’m back, I’m there to give him, you know, just pointers, talking to him about pay-per-view and how things work.
“Because sometimes when a guy is in a boxing gym, and he’s had hard work throughout that day, sometimes a guy don’t wanna work. I mean, as far as he don’t wanna do certain interviews and certain things like that. But you have to, because that’s a part of the job. That’s a part of you being a champion. That’s a part of pay-per-view. You know, and when we invest in a fight like this, we want these guys to give us a hundred percent because we’re giving a hundred percent.”
Davis has appreciated having the sport’s most accomplished pay-per-view performer playing a pivotal role during this training camp. Mayweather has urged Davis to rely more on his boxing ability while training, as opposed to focusing mostly on his power.
“As far as, you know, getting ready for this fight,” Davis explained, “I feel as though I wanted to bring my camp to, you know, Las Vegas, you know, and train more than, you know, eight weeks or a six-week camp, you know, because I know that I’m, you know, fighting a top-notch fighter. We know Leo coming to fight. He’s bringing pressure, you know, he’s a high-volume fighter, puncher, you know, so I brung my camp here, you know, more so, you know, to stay focused on just boxing.
“You know, being close with, you know, my Mayweather team, as far as having Floyd Mayweather in the gym more with me, you know, hands on, and things like that. You know, so I’m definitely, you know, grateful for Floyd Mayweather to be in my camp and things like that, just to help me and tweak things, you know, and make me be able to fight better.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.